Beyond the Fence
by agent000
Summary: Jack's sister couldn't move on after losing her brother to the ice of the pond, and she wouldn't be able to until she had found him once again.


_**I'm finally uploading something? Whaaaat? That's right, folks. Agent is actually writing again. Who would have thought it could happen within this millennium? *chuckles***_

 _ **Anyway, as I usually warn whenever I delve into the historical side of things, history was not my best subject in school, so a lot of the things in here might not be as accurate as they could be. But I tried. And I tried to be honest to the history even when certain historical trends annoy me, because a good writer should be as honest as possible. Or so I believe, anyway, haha.**_

 _ **In any case, I hope you enjoy this little (or long) piece that I've written!**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I still don't know why we do these things considering that I wouldn't be writing fanfiction if it was my own work, but since everyone does them for some reason, I'll just do it too. Ahem, I don't own Rise of the Guardians or anything to do with it. There, I said it. :P**_

All she ever seemed to be good at was losing people. She didn't know what sin she could have possibly committed so early in life to have her heart torn apart and stomped on as many times as it had been thus far, but it must have been a bad one. Losing her brother as a child was bad enough, but why did she have to lose her child too?

Tannie rubbed the tears out of her eyes as she trudged through the snow. She muttered to herself that her son wasn't actually dead. She had to remember that. Her husband had merely run off with him, and she couldn't entirely blame him. Anyone who so much as looked at her could tell she was mad. Why, she was talking to herself, for heaven's sake!

She took a deep breath and continued trudging along, the icy snow crunching beneath her boots. Maybe she had been possessed by some devil or something as the townspeople were starting to suspect. Maybe she was mad as her husband had insisted. Maybe she was an unfit mother because she couldn't let go of the past. But she had to find him still. Jack was out there somewhere. Her heart knew it, even if she had nothing else to go on. He needed her, and she would find him somehow.

After some time had passed, she reached her clearing. Only she and Jack had ever dared venture this far into the forest. The rest of the townspeople refused to go any further than the lake due to their insistence that fairies and goblins lurked in the woods. Now that Jack had lost his life to the lake, many of the villagers now refused to even come that far, believing that the lake was cursed too. Well, now she seemed to be cursed as well, so she might as well come out here and join all the other cursed things.

It was a full moon tonight, which was perfect if she was going to try and break through. Break through to where, she couldn't say, but it didn't matter so long as it was where Jack had gone. She knew in her heart that he hadn't made it to Heaven. That knowledge had caused a deep wound to form in her heart, and it wouldn't heal. And it never would until she was assured that wherever Jack had gone, he was safe. She was willing to follow him to Hell if that was where Jack had ended up. Did that make her mad? Then so be it. Let her be mad. She would be mad and with her brother, wherever he had gone.

Tannie took one last look around the clearing before unloading her pack. It wouldn't do to have anyone find out what she was up to. She would no longer be considered merely mad then, but wicked. She knew she was playing with fire. She knew she might never reach Heaven for this. But she couldn't leave Jack to struggle wherever he was, and if that cost her Heaven, then so be it.

No one had followed her, so she extracted the items from her pack: various herbs, some extracts she had made while no one was watching, and an arrangement of candles. She took a deep breath and scattered the herbs in a circle around the clearing. If anyone came to check on her, the evidence was now all over the snow. There was no going back now, so this had better work.

It took quite a bit of struggling to get the candles to stay lit in the bitter cold air, but she was more determined than the weather was, and she soon had a circle of lit candles sitting around her in the snow. It wasn't long before she had the extracts spread on every piece of her skin that she could reach. The spell expected her to completely cover herself with the extracts, but considering how bitter cold it was out here, she couldn't risk removing her clothes to do it properly. While she didn't mind dying for Jack the way he had done for her, she wasn't willing to throw her life away before she knew what had become of him. Her life could very well be her only bargaining chip for his freedom.

Tannie placed her hands over her heart and began to chant, "Jack. Please take me to Jack." If she had been hoping to feel some sort of rush to confirm that the spell had worked, then she was sadly disappointed. She sighed and decided that some clarification couldn't hurt. "Please, my brother needs me. I don't know how I know, but I just feel it in my heart. Please take me to where I can help him."

A twig snapped behind her, and she gasped as she looked around to locate the source of the noise. Nothing met her eye, but she couldn't shake the notion that something, or someone, had been watching. Had someone from town followed her after all? She shivered at the thought. People had been killed for less than what she had just done. She knew that calling upon this sort of power was wicked. She knew that she would most certainly go to the place of eternal torment for disobeying God like this, but if God wasn't going to save her brother from whatever fate he was suffering, then she would do it herself. Even if the price was her soul.

Her heart palpitated for several long minutes before she decided that no one was waiting to ambush her. Or at least not yet. Maybe this would be a good opportunity for her to leave before anyone else came after her. Or maybe no one had actually been there at all, and she could just try to go back home and pretend nothing had happened. It wasn't like the spell had worked anyway. Nothing had happened.

She gripped her cloak tighter around her shoulders and began to traipse back toward the village. At the very least, she needed to try and collect her things before departing. She had hoped the spell would just work, so she hadn't taken provisions. That seemed unwise now, but there was no use dwelling on the past. Especially since she was still stuck on a significant event in the past that was much more important to her.

If Tannie hadn't been brooding so hard by the time she had reached the lake, then she might not have come so close to running into the strange obstacle. As it was, having the strange object suddenly cross her path startled her so much that she lost her balance and fell to her seat. She had seen a fence before, but nothing like this one that was before her. They had always protected extremely valuable things and had armed men around them to prevent trespassers. Why was there suddenly a fence by the lake? How could they have even built one so quickly? What was so valuable here that they had to protect it?

A movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention, and she leapt to her feet as what appeared to be a young man emerged from around the fence, carrying a large black sack. He approached a large box, opened it, threw the sack into it, and then began to retreat back to wherever he had come from. Was the boy a thief? It was usually suspicious when a young man hid a large sack anywhere. No matter. She was in no position to judge him for his actions when she herself had only recently been doing unholy things.

Tannie raised her hand to gain the attention of the boy, and said, "Young lad, pray tell, what is being protected beyond this fence?"

The young man then turned and gave her the most bizarre and confused face she had ever seen on a young man. After a moment of awkward silence, the boy finally spoke. "You aren't talking to _me,_ are you?"

Tannie boldly stepped forward. The boy now knew she had caught him in the midst of heinous acts and would undoubtedly think twice before reporting her to the rest of the town. "Verily, I am inquiring of you as to the nature of this fort which has not been present heretofore."

The young man first responded with more confusion, then that confusion morphed into amusement, and then he began to laugh. "Are you one of those historical actors, dear? You're quite good."

Tannie's response to this was to cross her arms and huff. "How preposterous to presume that I would stoop so low as to purport to be anything but myself, young man."

The boy chuckled again, then said, "Okay, dear. But I'm not a boy. I'm a woman." She then gestured over her shoulder with her thumb. "And this isn't much of a fort. This is just my house."

Was it possible for one's heart to scream on the inside while your body remained silent on the outside? Because that was exactly how Tannie would have described what she was feeling right then. The boy before her was really a woman? How scandalous! What had possessed this barbarian of a woman to go around dressed in a man's clothes? It simply wasn't decent.

As soon as she could find her voice, she asked, "Why would you risk your life in this way, madam? Should they discover you masquerading as one of the men, I am afraid they shall..."

She never got to finish her thought as the woman interrupted her with a sharp laugh. "Don't tell me you honestly believe that's an issue anymore, dear." Upon seeing Tannie's uncomprehending face, she shook her head in amusement once again and said, "Women have dressed in pants for a long time now, dear."

The woman was clearly wrong about that, but Tannie was in no mood to argue. A rebellious woman like this might be able to help her anyway. She was just going to have to accept that from now on, her allies were most likely going to be the outcasts of society. She sighed and then gently cleared her throat. "Madam, would you be so kind as to help me? I have been seeking my brother, and I do not know what has become of him."

The woman now took on a look of concern, which was a relief. Tannie hadn't been sure if this woman could actually feel or if she only knew the ways of callousness. One never knew what to expect from strange woman such as this one was. "What happened to your brother?"

Tannie cast her eyes down to the ground, unable to look into the woman's eyes as she called forth the horrible memories. "He has been gone for these past six years. It was my fault. He tried to save me, and then..." She closed her eyes, willing the memory to go back into the recesses of her mind. "And then he was gone."

A gentle hand patted her shoulder, and Tannie opened her eyes to look up into the woman's face. The concern was still there, but also a look of understanding. "Why don't you come in out of the cold for a bit? We could talk about this over hot cocoa." While Tannie wasn't entirely sure what hot cocoa was, it sounded like the woman was attempting to be polite, and refusing her offer would be rude. So Tannie nodded and allowed the woman to lead her into her strange home beyond the fence.

Her eyes bugged out as soon as she saw the interior of the house and all its furnishings. It was no wonder this woman needed a fence around her home if she was going to live so close to the village. She had to keep the rest of the villagers from finding out that she was extremely wealthy. Tannie gulped and took a step back toward the door, only to earn a concerned look from the wealthy woman. "You okay, dear?"

"I am not worthy to set foot in your house, madam. I fear I may spoil it."

"Oh, now don't be silly," said the woman, and she grasped Tannie's hand and led her into a sitting room and shoved her down into a cushioned seat. "Now you just make yourself comfortable while I go and make the cocoa." Tannie didn't know anything else to say to that, so she just nodded and waited patiently as the woman left the room and made some strange clanging noises in another room.

A pleasant yet unfamiliar scent filled the air a few minutes later, and soon the woman emerged with two cups of hot liquid in her hands and gave one of them to Tannie. Seeing the confusion on Tannie's face, the woman said, "You drink it. Just be careful, since it's hot."

That seemed like an odd drink to Tannie, but if this was a friendly custom in this woman's culture, then Tannie wasn't going to be unfriendly simply because it was unfamiliar to her. She understood how to drink hot liquids, at least. Her mother had frequently given her hot broths or herbal infusions when she had been ill as a child, but she had never had anything like this. Tannie blew on the drink and then tentatively took a sip, then smiled up at the woman. "It is wonderful!"

The woman quirked and eyebrow and simply laughed. "You've seriously never had hot cocoa before?"

"No, madam."

Another odd expression passed over the woman's face, and then she said, "You don't have to keep calling me 'madam', dear. Just call me Susan."

"But that would not be proper!"

Susan then rolled her eyes at this and said, "Screw 'proper'. Being that formal makes people uncomfortable these days, dear. If someone tells you to call them by their first name, then call them by their first name or you'll most likely alienate them."

"Oh!" Tannie's hand flew to her face at the realization of her having made such a huge social faux pas. Granted, she had never heard of such a rule in her life, but if it was really that offensive for her to break this new rule, then she was going to have to make an effort to remember it. "I am so sorry, mada-S-Susan." She hung her head in submission, hoping that the lady Susan would forgive her.

"Oh goodness, don't be like that, dear!" Susan then grabbed Tannie's chin and forced her to look up into her eyes. "You're acting like I'm way above you or something. Please don't do that. I'm no better than you." Tannie nodded, not entirely believing this lady Susan, but unwilling to make another big social mistake by not doing as she was instructed.

"Now, dear, what can I call _you_?" Susan then took a sip from her beverage before adding, "I would just hate to have to keep calling you 'dear' forever."

Tannie couldn't honestly say she minded being called "dear", since it was a nice change from what ladies like Susan usually called her, but if Susan really didn't want to keep calling her that, then it would be rude to try and force her to. "My name is Tanja Bennett."

Susan almost choked on her drink. " _Bennett_?!" At getting Tannie's nod of confirmation, Susan shook her head bewilderedly. "Wow. I'm a Bennett too. I wonder if we're related."

Now it was Tannie's turn to react. Susan was a Bennett too? That must mean that she was a relative of her husband's, which would most certainly mean she would despise her once she realized Tannie was the madwoman her relative married. "Oh dear," said Tannie, and she began to stand up, feeling that her welcome was just about to be worn out. "I fear you must be related to my husband. I apologize for my intrusion. I will not taint your home with my presence any further."

Susan's only response was to snap her fingers in the direction of the seat Tannie had been sitting in and issue a command. "Sit." Tannie sat.

"Okay," said Susan, "first off, I married into the family, so I realize that Bennett men can be troublesome at times. I'm not going to judge you for that." The shock on Tannie's face must have been invitation enough for her to continue, so she took a sip of her drink and then said, "And secondly, you're married?! How can you possibly... You look no older than fourteen or fifteen."

"I am sixteen," said Tannie. "I married late since no man would take me after my brother disappeared. They believed me to be cursed."

" _Late_?!" said Susan, "You have got to be kidding me! Sixteen is entirely too young to be getting married."

Tannie blinked in bafflement at the very notion of what Susan had just said. Too young? "How old would you have me be, Susan? I was already practically an old maid before James agreed to wed me. Should I have gotten any older, I fear that even he would have refused me."

Again, Susan seemed to choke on her beverage. "You married a man named James Bennett?"

"I did."

"What are the chances?" Susan leaned back into her seat with a sigh and placed her hand over her forehead. "That's my son's name, though everyone calls him Jamie."

Tannie smirked at Susan's befuddled expression. "I believe it is a family name among the Bennetts. And even if not, both the first and last names are common names, are they not?"

"I suppose you're right," said Susan as she sat up and attempted to straighten herself out and regain whatever dignity she had lost. "Sorry if I'm a little spooked. You don't often hear your son's name in the context of someone else's marriage."

"Not at all," said Tannie. "I would too be, uh, 'spooked' as you say, if I were to hear the name of my little Thomas in terms of marriage."

"Uh huh," said Susan, but Tannie couldn't deny that the poor woman still seemed a bit "spooked", and so it didn't surprise her that Susan suddenly switched topics in an attempt to find a distraction. Her choice of topics, however, did surprise her. Quite a bit. "I could use some music, couldn't you?"

In this case, it was Tannie who finally got to raise an eyebrow at Susan. "I adore music as much as anyone, but I am afraid that I never mastered the use of an instrument. My brother was proficient at the use of the fiddle, but his tunes have not graced our walls these past six years."

"I-I'm sorry to hear that," said Susan, who then picked up a small black brick-like thing and pointed it to a black box on a nearby shelf. "I'm no good at performing either. That's why I just listen to it." Suddenly, music flowed into the room from the black box, and Tannie shrieked as she looked around the room.

"I do not see the musicians! Where are they?"

"What?" said Susan, shaking her head as if she couldn't believe Tannie's reaction. "There are no musicians." Apparently she gathered quickly that that wasn't the best thing to say as Tannie had begun to freak out even more, and so she amended, "I mean, there were. They performed this music a while ago. This is recorded."

"Recorded?" said Tannie.

"Well, yeah," said Susan, who then gave Tannie a long, hard look. Tannie squirmed under her look. Why was she staring like that? Did she look that strange? "How do you not know about recorded music? Are you sure you're not acting?"

This question was getting old fast. Why did Susan keep asking her this? She was just like any other girl, with the possible exception of how her brother had been such a bad influence on her. Maybe he had influenced her much worse than she had thought. She sighed and buried her face in her hands. "I have already said that I would not stoop so low. The only one in my family who would have engaged in such trickery and tomfoolery is my brother."

When she dared to look up again, Susan was giving her an unreadable, but strange look. It looked almost confused, but there was another element to it. Had Susan realized something about her? Surely she hadn't discovered Tannie's wickedness. She had to hope Susan was still unaware of that.

"Tanja," said Susan, "Might I ask you a really weird question?"

Tannie, not having even expected that question, simply nodded since she had no idea how else to react.

Susan then cleared her throat and said, "Okay then... what year is it, Tanja?"

Tanja blinked. That was a strange question indeed. Did Susan not know the year? What had happened to the poor woman if she was unaware of when it was? Had she been indoors for most of her life?

"It is the year of our Lord 1720, of course."

An awkward pause ensued afterward in which both women stared at each other, willing the other to speak first. But both refused to utter so much as a peep, and so the silence remained.

When Susan finally finished the last of her drink, she turned to Tannie and said, "So, do you seriously believe that?"

"What do I believe?"

"That it's 1720."

Tannie nodded, but then stopped and thought for a moment. "I must confess that I have not grasped the passage of time in the way one ought since the disappearance of my brother. It may be that I have missed a year. Is it the year 1721?"

Susan slapped her palm over her face. "Oh dear, we have quite the problem."

This reaction worried Tannie. Had she truly lost time during her years of unresolved grief? Was she not truly sixteen years of age? She needed to know the truth, no matter how great the chance of discovering the depth of her own madness. "Pray tell, what is the year? It seems I have misplaced the time."

There was another awkward pause as Susan seemed hesitant to answer her, but after a couple encouragements from Tannie, Susan finally sighed and said, "2013. It's the year 2013."

Out of all the possible years Susan could have said, Tannie hadn't expected a number like 2013. She didn't know how to react to that. Her mind refused to accept it, and so she couldn't feel anything in response to Susan's answer except confusion. Fearing that she may have misheard, she asked Susan to please repeat the number. Instead of answering directly, Susan then stood up and walked out of the room. She was back in a moment with a calendar, and she pointed at the number indicating the year. The number read 2013.

"No," said Tannie. "I cannot have lost that much time. I could not have even lived so long."

"I know," said Susan. "But that is the year, whether you believe it or not."

"But it is not possible! It was 1720 yesterday."

"No," said Susan in a patiently patronizing way. "It was Easter yesterday. Easter of 2013, not 1720."

"No!" said Tannie, and before she knew what she was doing, she was on her feet and running to the front door. "It is the year 1720, not 2013!" And before Susan had the chance to protest, she was out the door and running as fast as her legs would carry her. She had not asked the magic to help her find more madness, but perhaps it had. Was this her punishment for having tampered with something so forbidden?

She had intended to run straight back to her own house in the village, but nearly got run over by an out of control carriage bounding down the road. She dropped and rolled out of the road in time to avoid getting harmed, but she was seriously concerned. Had anyone been in that carriage? It had run by so quickly that she had been unable to see inside it. She seriously hoped that no one came to harm from it. Help. She had to get help, just in case lives were in danger.

In a moment, she was back on her feet and running toward the village, but she couldn't help but notice that the path toward the village looked nothing like it was supposed to. The road itself was much harder and blacker than she could remember, and there were many strange houses like Susan's along the road. Many of them even had fences like hers. How could they have built so many rich people's houses in less than a day? Were they so rich that they could all hire as many servants as it took for them to build their house within hours? That was even wealthier than she had even known was possible.

Another carriage came barrelling down the road, but in the opposite direction from the previous one. The hill only slanted in one direction, so this one could not have merely gone out of control from losing its horses. This one was going uphill without the aid of horses. It must have been possessed by a devil. Tannie screamed and ran.

As she ran, she found more and more of these devil carriages. They had taken over the village it seemed. Had she done this? Had she brought this upon the town by tampering with the forbidden?

"Honey, are you okay?"

Tannie turned to see a person addressing her, but as with Susan, she couldn't tell whether they were a man or a woman. Were these people in league with the devil? Was this what Hell was like? Was that where she was?

Was Jack here?

She was terrified of the new person, but they seemed like they might be willing to help her, and aside from Susan, they had been the only one to ask about her condition. Tears streamed down Tannie's face, a clear sign of madness, but the person hadn't run from her yet. Truly, this must have been the land of the dead if they were no longer afraid of madness. "Have you seen my brother? I need to find him."

"What's your brother's name?" said the person.

"Jackson Overland," said Tannie. "His hair and eyes are the color of mine, but he is a head taller than I am. Please, have you heard of him?"

The look of shock on the person's face was unexpected, but Tannie supposed it made sense too, considering her brother's reputation. He had probably ensured that everyone in the land of the dead knew his name. Typical Jack.

"You don't mean that story about the boy who fell in the lake, do you?"

Tannie half laughed in relief at the person having recognized her brother by his name. She grasped the person by the hand and said, "That is my brother! He perished in the lake to save my life, and I have journeyed here to find him. Pray tell, do you know where I may find him? I must see him!"

The shock on the person's face only grew more pronounced, and they looked like they were just desperate to get away and didn't know how. Tannie sighed in defeat and released the person's hand, allowing them to escape. It would not do to cause even those in this strange land of the dead to fear her madness.

Even though that interaction hadn't gone well, it had still provided her with the information she had needed. That person had heard of Jack, even in this strange land. Therefore, he must be around here somewhere. That spell must have worked better than she had first assumed. She took off at a run, turning her head this way and that as she searched for a distinctly familiar face.

"Jack!" she called, "Jack! Jack! Where are you?" A chilling breeze rushed past her all of a sudden, and she wrapped her arms around herself as she continued to call out. "Jack! Jack! Can you hear me? Where are you?"

She'd created such a commotion with her running and calling that she hadn't noticed until she was forced to come to a stop when a crowd blocked her way from running any further. Shouts from the crowd of, "Are you okay?" "Who are you?" and "Where do you live?", while seeming helpful on the surface, only served to further terrify her, and she turned and tried to bolt in the opposite direction, only to find herself face to face with a large man in a blue suit. She had never seen such a suit before, but judging by the badge on his chest, she could only guess that he must be the local sheriff.

"What seems to be the trouble, miss?" he said.

Would the sheriff be able to help her? Wasn't that part of his job? "I only seek my brother. I shall depart whence I came once I have found him, but please help me find him!"

" _Whence_ you came? What is this?"

The person from before suddenly popped up and said, "She's looking for Jackson Overland. _The_ Jackson Overland. I kid you not."

The sheriff then placed his hands on his hips and glared down at Tannie as he pondered this new information. "Is this a joke?"

Why would the sheriff think it a joke that she sought her long lost brother? Did people not do that here? Why wouldn't they? She shook her head in response. "No. Please, I must find him!"

A loud slam sounded behind her, and she spun to see Susan emerging from one of those devil carriages. She waved her hand to get the attention of the sheriff. "It's okay, Robert. She's a distant relative of mine, and she's apparently suffering from some sort of post traumatic stress. I'll take care of her."

The sheriff's stance softened a bit at hearing Susan address him. He nodded first at Tannie and then at Susan. "So, can you tell me what's going on here?"

"It's just a panic attack," said Susan. "I'm afraid I set it off by being a little too harsh with her. I won't make that mistake again." Susan then slung her arm over Tannie's shoulder. Tannie wasn't too sure she wanted this strange woman's arm around her like that, relative or not, but she didn't know if there were any safer options at the moment. All the people in this place were strange and scary.

The sheriff then sighed and completely relaxed his stance. "Well, if you're sure." At getting Susan's confirmation that she could handle the situation, he pulled out a pad of paper and turned to Tannie. "Now, can I get your name? You're not in trouble. It's just for my records."

"Um," said Tannie, looking nervously between Susan and the sheriff. "Tanja Overland." Upon seeing the looks on both people's faces, she realized her mistake and then said, "I meant Bennett. I have only been married this past year and a half. I am Tanja Bennett."

That answer might have spawned further awkward questions if not for the sudden breeze that sprung up right then, which knocked the pad of paper out of the sheriff's hand. Before he had the chance to recover his paper, another slam sounded behind her and a little boy ran into the group. He tugged at her sleeve to get her attention, then said, "I was told to tell you, 'Tannie, stop drawing attention to yourself and leave the mischief making to me. Susan is a good person. Please just let her help you."

Tannie then shrieked and grasped the boy by the shoulders. "What did you call me?"

The boy then looked up at empty space, then back to her, shrugged, and said, "Tannie?"

She released the boy with a gasp. "No one has ever called me Tannie. No one except Jack. Where is he?"

The boy looked as though he was searching for words, but before he could find them, Susan placed a hand on her shoulder and said, "Why don't we go home and talk about it, Tanja? I could even make some more hot cocoa if you like."

Tannie didn't really want to give in that quickly when she finally had a lead, but the boy's message had said to trust Susan. That she was a good person. And they had called her Tannie. The message couldn't have come from anyone but Jack. Well, if Jack thought Susan was worth her trust, then she supposed that she might as well trust Jack's judgement. He undoubtedly knew the rules of this place and the people who lived here much better than she did.

However, she wasn't sure if her trust could extend as far as getting into the devil carriage once Susan tried to nudge her inside it. Her panic began to rise once again. Once more, she received a tug on her sleeve, courtesy of the little boy. When she turned to face him, he opened his mouth to speak, then turned to the empty air beside him and said, "Why are you laughing?" After a moment, the boy himself started laughing too. Well, that proved it. The people here were definitely mad. She seemed to be in good company.

The boy then turned to her and said, "You honestly think the devil is controlling the car?" Just the saying of this seemed to set the boy off again into another laughing fit. Tannie began to grow impatient, and she placed her hands on her hips.

"Well then, what pray tell is in charge of this strange carriage?"

The boy began laughing again, but found his voice quickly and said, "He says, 'Nothing more evil than I am. Come on, Tannie, if you can survive a prune with a pepper hidden in it, then you can definitely handle a two-minute drive in the Satan Wagon.'"

Even coming from the mouth of this strange little boy rather than her brother's, she still could not help but recognize Jack's mocking tone in the words. Without even thinking about it, her hands balled up into fists and she raised them into a defensive position. Directing her words to the little boy, she said, "Tell me where he stands, boy."

The little boy only started laughing again. "He said, 'Oh, you're gonna try and punch me, huh? Not very ladylike of you, Tannie."

"Well," she said as she flipped her hair behind her shoulder and out of her way should she actually get the pleasure of having her fist meet her intended target. "Last I checked, you were not a lady."

The little boy laughed at her response this time, and then laughed again at whatever message he had received. When he calmed down, he said, "He says you've gotten really feisty over the years."

"Someone had to cause trouble in his absence."

More laughter, and then the little boy said, "He said to just get in the car, Tannie."

Tannie sighed in defeat, but obeyed. Even coming through another's mouth, she had never had the ability to say no whenever Jack took that tone. It was unmistakable. How was this boy able to contact her brother when he wasn't present? Would he teach her his trick? She hoped so.

After she was seated inside the strange contraption, she looked out through the window and saw Susan bend down and whisper to the boy. "Thank you so much for making all that up. I don't know how I'd have calmed her down without your help."

"I didn't make it up, Mom!" The boy opened the door. "I was only saying what Jack told me to say." Susan looked nervously between the boy and Tannie, chuckled nervously, and then closed the door behind her son and climbed in herself. A moment later, Susan twisted her hand, and the strange carriage sprung to life.

"This carriage is roaring!"

The boy then laughed again, stopped to listen for a moment, started up the laughter again and said, "Apparently that's because the car thinks it's a lion. He says you can make it stop roaring so loud if you bark at it."

"Verily, I shall bark at _him_ the moment I set my sights on him!" Aside from the laughter caused by this interaction, they managed to get the rest of the way back to the Bennetts' home without incident.

Once they were safely back in the Bennetts' house though, things got interesting. Susan wanted to ask about Tannie's claim of being Jackson Overland's sister, Tannie wanted to inquire more about Jack from the little boy who seemed connected to him somehow, the little boy seemed to want to get Jack and Tannie bickering again since he found it hilarious, and Susan's little girl, who had been quiet this entire time, wanted to get some of the promised hot chocolate and wouldn't take no for an answer.

Apparently, everyone had forgotten to ask what Jack wanted in this whole mess, because the temperature in the room suddenly dropped until everyone could see their breath. No one had to say anything aloud to know that pretty much everyone had been spooked by that, even the little boy. The only one who didn't seem to care much was the little girl, who contented herself with pretending to be a fire breathing dragon.

Susan hesitantly nudged her son, then whispered, "Jamie, what's going on?" It wasn't a very quiet whisper, as everyone had been able to hear it, but Tannie assumed it helped Susan feel better to pretend she was being secretive.

The little boy, Jamie, then shrugged as he looked back at his mom. "Jack's just kind of freaking out that his sister is here. He doesn't know how she's still alive."

Susan looked sternly at Jamie and said, "You can stop pretending now. Tanja is safe."

Jamie only shook his head. "I'm not pretending, Mom."

" _Please_ stop pretending, Jamie!"

There was a moment's pause, and then Jamie turned to his mother and said, "Hva må jeg gjøre for å overbevise deg om at jeg ikke late?" To this, Susan's eyes widened, and Tannie's hands flew to her mouth to hide a gasp. She knew that language. She knew it so well. And the chances of a Dutch family like the Bennetts being able to speak it were minimal.

Tannie took a deep breath and then replied. "Jeg tror ikke du er late."

Susan cast her wide-eyed look in Tannie's direction, and then gestured between Tannie and Jamie. "So now she understands this strange language too? What are you guys talking about?" Jamie simply shrugged, having merely been the messenger and not understanding the message.

"He said, 'What do I have to do to convince you that I am not pretending?'" said Tannie. "And my response was, 'I do not believe you are pretending.'" The shocked response from Susan and Jamie was so still that one would have heard a pin drop if they chose that moment to actually drop one. As it was, the only sound that actually met their ears was the sound of the little girl continuing to try and produce her dragon breaths.

"Jack has always had the regrettable habit of reverting to our mother tongue of Norwegian upon getting upset. But perhaps it is fortunate in this case, for it verifies beyond all doubt that he is present." Tannie then cast a glance about the room and frowned. "Alas, I do not behold him. I do not understand."

"I can't see him either, Tanja," said Susan, who was also shakily looking around the room just in case someone would pop up and spook her. "I don't know what's going on and I'm getting really creeped out."

Jamie went silent again as he listened to the empty space beside him, then he turned to the two older people. "He said he has a better idea and that he'll be right back. He suggested that we just calm down with some hot chocolate until then." Susan was about to come up with some kind of objection to what Jamie had just said, but before she could find a single word to say, her front door opened and then closed all on its own. Her jaw dropped wide open as she stared after the door. Tannie couldn't deny that she was a bit spooked herself by the invisible interaction, but she preferred that over having no evidence of Jack's continued existence. As things were, he was proving quite clearly that he still existed in some form.

After a beat, Susan said, "I'll make the hot chocolate." It seemed she had run out of words to say and had just decided to wait to see what would happen. Tannie and Jamie had also run out of words to say and simply went into the sitting room, or living room as Jamie told her it was called. They could wait there for the hot cocoa. And for Jack.

Before too long, Susan came in with a tray full of cups of hot cocoa and handed one each to Tannie and Jamie, then placed the remaining two cups on the low table in the middle of the room. "Here, Sophie. Drink it over the table, and be careful. It's still pretty hot."

So now Tannie knew the little girl was called Sophie.

They all drank their hot cocoa in silence. Despite how intriguing this drink had been the last time, Tannie barely tasted it now. She could only focus on the sound she was listening so intently for: that of someone at the door. She wasn't sure she would be able to magically see Jack even then since he seemed to still be lost to her sight, but he seemed to be able to interact with objects. Surely she would hear him when he came to the door. Or would he just throw out the rules and come through a window? She wouldn't be surprised one bit if he did. It didn't seem he had changed all that much, if Jamie's interpretation of him was accurate.

It wasn't until after the last drop had been drained from the last cup, or mug, as Jamie had told her they call those particular kinds of cups, and they finally heard a knock on the door. Everyone jumped. It seemed that expecting the knock hadn't helped them all that much. Everyone but Sophie went rigid and simply stared at each other, wondering what was supposed to happen next. Even Jamie, who had seemed so comfortable interacting with Jack before, now seemed spooked himself. Was he just spooked by how his family was reacting around him? Perhaps. Fear and awkwardness could easily pass from person to person if you let it.

Another knock came after the door had been ignored for too long, and Susan finally realized that something would have to be done about it. "I, uh... I guess I'll see who's at the door." She stood up and shuffled her way to the front door, took a deep breath, and then opened it. There were some muffled voices talking to each other, but Tannie couldn't make out any of it. All she could hear was the blood pounding behind her ears. What was she so afraid of? She had come all this way to find Jack. Why was she having second thoughts now?

Before her second thoughts were allowed to get too carried away with themselves, a figure gently shuffled up towards her. "Tannie?"

That voice! Her fear vanished in an instant as her eyes snapped up and beheld the person standing in front of her. She barely took the time to register who it was before she was suddenly on her feet. "Jack!" She threw her arms around him and held him so tight that he would find it difficult to ever get away from her again. "Jack! Jack! Jack!" Tears sprung to her eyes with each repetition of his name, but she didn't want to stop saying it. She had missed being able to call this person by his name to his face. She had missed him so much.

A couple hands grasped onto her arms and started trying to tug them back. "Missed you too." Jack tried to laugh, but his voice sounded almost strangled. "And unless you're trying to get me to die properly this time, I'd suggest you let me breathe." That was all it took for Tannie to release him as quickly as she could, and she watched as Jack gulped down air. Air that he clearly needed, but why? Hadn't he died?

Then she noticed something strange. His hair. She had been so relieved to see him that she hadn't bothered to notice anything different about him. Now that she thought about it, his skin was paler than before as well. Was he ill? Once he had caught his breath and stood up properly, she caught another change. His eyes. His hair was white. His eyes were blue. His skin was pale. And he was alive. What in Heaven's name had happened to her brother?

Susan then hesitantly approached the pair and reached out a tentative finger as though wanting to touch Jack to verify her eyes weren't deceiving her. The finger made contact, and with it, her eyes widened. "Are you... Jack?"

"Yes, ma'am," said Jack, who then dropped into an exaggerated bow. "The one and only, at your service."

Susan then croaked out a response of, "You're real?" Then seeming to think better of it, she continued on with, "But how? I-I couldn't see you before."

Jack then reached under the strange blue shirt he was wearing and pulled something out. It was some kind of crystal on a chain. "When I told the Guardians that my sister had shown up out of nowhere to find me, but that she still couldn't see me, they lent me this."

"What is it?" said Jamie.

"It's a signal disruption crystal. They said that since I can't control my glamour at all, if I disrupted it, you guys would be able to see me." He then placed the crystal back under his shirt and readjusted the shirt around his shoulders. "I can't get away with wearing it for very long though. It'll apparently make me really sick if I try, so we should probably talk now while we can."

"Right," said Susan. "Of course." She was clearly still pretty spooked about what was happening, but with the supposedly non-existent brother in question standing right here in her living room, it seemed she just couldn't bring herself to argue any longer. Tannie was grateful to see that she had backed down and went to sit at the opposite side of the room.

Once she was out of the way, Jack turned back to face his sister. He took her hands in his, and Tannie shivered. His hands were as cold as ice. Was that normal for him nowadays, or had he simply not had a chance to warm up yet after coming in from the cold? "Now, Tannie," he said, "What on earth are you doing here? Don't get me wrong, since I'm so glad to see you again... but it's been three hundred years!"

Tannie instinctively jerked back at hearing those words. It had been one thing to hear Susan talk about how much time had passed, but it was quite another thing to hear her brother talk about it. She couldn't just ignore it now, even though she wanted to. It seemed Susan had been correct in saying the year was now 2013, but why had she flown through time just to be with Jack? Had Jack flown through time as well?

"Jack, I... I wished to see you again desperately. So desperately that I... I wish not to say."

Jack fixed her with one of those no nonsense stares of his, the kind that didn't cross his face very often. The kind she couldn't ever say no to. "Tell me anyway."

She sighed and then told him. She told him about her husband and his concluding she was mad and how he ran off with the baby. She told him about lying awake many a night because she was sure she could hear him screaming or crying for help. She told him about how she had started to dabble in witchcraft in the hopes that she would find a way to get him back. She told him about the spell she had cast just before showing up here. She told him everything.

She wouldn't have blamed him if he had despised her right then. He now knew just how wicked of a sister he had, and he had every right to call her mad or possessed like everyone else had. Instead, he just threw his arms around her and held her tight. "I'm so sorry," he said. "I never would have guessed my dying would hurt you so."

"How could it not, Jack?" She buried her face in his shoulder and tried to stifle a sob, but it came out anyway. She supposed it didn't matter. Jack had never minded if she cried. "You were the Heaven and the Earth to me. When you fell into the lake, it felt as though my heart had fallen in with you."

"Perhaps it did," said Jack as he began to stroke Tannie's hair. "I feel like I've been carrying a part of you with me all these years. And now you've just managed to figure out how to get the rest of you here as well." He chuckled slightly and Tannie smirked at Jack just being Jack, but neither one could think of anything else to say just yet, so they just stood in silence, relishing the fact that the other was actually there. That it wasn't their imagination.

Of course, the silence couldn't go uninterrupted for too long. "Um, sorry for butting in," said Susan, "But I can't help but wondering, even if I accept that story about the spell bringing her here, how are you still alive, Jack? And why did the spell bring her to 2013? Why not closer to the time she came from?"

Jack chuckled awkwardly and began to rub the back of his neck as he tried to delicately answer such tricky questions. "Long story short... I didn't actually die that day. I just... stopped being human. There are... well, there are people who can turn humans into fairies, and I guess that one of them decided I should be turned." Jack shrugged in response to his own choice of words. "It wasn't my decision. For the past three hundred years, I've felt so lost and angry because of it. I just wanted to go home, but I never could."

"You're... a fairy," said Susan. It wasn't a question. It was a statement of disbelief. Tannie was sure that Jack had picked up on that tone, probably even better than he had, but it didn't seem to bother him one bit.

"Yep," he said. "Wanna see some magic?" He then reached out his hand and focused as his hand began to shimmer and ice crystals flew off of it in different directions. "Ow!" He shook his hand and put a sheepish expression on his face. "Forgot. I'm still wearing the disruption crystal. It kind of messes with my powers."

So he had powers that dealt with ice? That explained how cold he was. Perhaps it even explained why his appearance had changed somewhat. Tannie was willing to accept just about anything at the moment if it meant she got her brother back.

Susan seemed mildly spooked at the botched attempt at magic since it had clearly still been magic, albeit not well controlled. It was no wonder Jack hadn't judged Tannie for having used magic if he was using it himself. Leave it to Jack to find a way to be even more wicked than her.

"Okay," said Susan, "but why 2013? That doesn't make sense."

Jack hung his head, once again sheepish. "Yes, it does."

Again, Susan said, "Why?"

"Because," he said with a sigh, "until yesterday, I had a bad case of amnesia. This is the earliest time Tannie could possibly help me."

Susan's hand covered the wide 'O' shape her mouth had made in response to this answer, but Tannie just continued to look on confusedly. "What is this 'amnesia', Jack?"

Jack just rolled his eyes and gave another one of his awkward chuckles. "Right, you don't know that word yet. Eh heh." He hung his head again. "I, uh... I..."

"Amnesia is a condition where a person forgets things," said Susan, coming to Jack's aid. "Often very important things."

Tannie looked to Jack in shock. "You forgot me?"

Jack shook his head. "Not willingly! I knew I was missing something, but I couldn't remember what it was. I couldn't remember anything before I woke up like... like this."

"Until yesterday?" said Tannie.

"Yeah," said Jack, "until yesterday."

"Well," she said as she reinforced the squeeze she was already giving Jack, "I am overjoyed that you now remember me. And that I now have you back. My heart feels more joy than it has in all of the past six years. Even little Thomas never brought me the joy that I feel in this moment."

Jack blinked a moment as something seemed to sink into his brain, and then he popped his eyes back open and he slapped a hand over his mouth. "Thomas... Thomas Bennett? You married a Bennett!"

Tannie simply raised an eyebrow in response. "Is that really such a surprise, dear brother? James was an acceptable suitor, was he not?"

"No, that's not what I'm saying!" said Jack. "It means I'm apparently related to these guys!" He waved around at the Bennetts surrounding him.

"What?!" said Jamie. "That's... That's awesome!"

"Yes," said Susan, "Tanja and I already knew this."

"Awww..." Jack rolled his eyes. "Give us slowpokes a little glory, will ya? Some of us don't know how to add two and two together." As if to prove his point, he turned to Jamie and said, "Hey, Jamie, what's two and two?"

Jamie smirked and said, "In which base?"

Jack then glared. "What did I say about talking to your dad about math?"

"That I should probably take my math problems to him if I wanted to get any of the answers right?"

The only response Jack could come up with to that was to shake his hand at Jamie in mock anger, and no one could resist laughing at the charade. Even little Sophie, who had no idea what was going on, still couldn't help but find Jack funny. Undoubtedly, that was what Jack had intended. The tension had finally lifted from the room. Jack's body might have changed a bit, and he might have gained some experience over the years that would just baffle Tannie, but in all the important ways, he hadn't changed at all.

Susan's voice interrupted once again. "Jack, are you... flickering?"

"Am I?" said Jack. He then pulled the crystal out from under his shirt and looked at it. "I can't tell, since I'm still visible to myself no matter what. But I am starting to get a little dizzy, so I should probably stop wearing this." This took both women by surprise, as it had come upon them rather suddenly and without warning.

"No!" said Tannie as she shot out her hand in an attempt to stop him, only to withdraw her hand once she remembered that it was making him sick. She was not going to be the one to cause her brother to suffer. He had suffered enough without her making it worse for him.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, and then he pulled off the necklace and slipped it into the pocket on the front of that strange shirt of his.

It only took her a moment to realize that she had actually seen all of that when she thought she should have stopped seeing anything he did the moment the crystal left his neck. It only took another moment to realize that he was still standing there, in full view of her.

"Jack," she said, "I see you still!"

Jack's face lit up. "You do? How many fingers am I holding up?" He then remembered that he would actually have to hold up said fingers in order to get her to tell him the answer, and so he hastily decided on a number and held them up in front of Tannie's face. Her response was to simply grab one of the fingers and bend it back to get it out of her face.

"Ow!" Jack pulled his hand away from the girl and shook out his fingers, looking suspiciously between his offended fingers and the mischievous girl. "You've made your point. Now what about Susan?" He waved his hand in front of Susan's face, but her expression remained blank. "Susan? Earth to Susan... Okay, it looks like we've lost Susan, but we've gained Tannie, so I'll still call that a win."

Jack then turned back to Tannie and swept her into his arms, bridal style, Tannie whooping with joy and surprise at the sudden contact. "What do you say we blow this joint and go freak out some yetis?"

"I do not understand what you mean, Jack." Tannie laughed. "But if this is one of your many attempts at mischief, then allow me to accompany you. I have not had the privilege of witnessing my brother's foolishness in the greater part of a decade."

Jack snorted. "Almost a decade for _you_. I haven't been able to be a bad influence for my little sister in three hundred years."

Tannie only laughed and patted Jack's cheek. "Fear not, Jack. You have always been a bad influence."

The two then flew past the fence and off into the sky to discover new wonders. Where they went, neither of them cared. All that mattered was that they finally had each other to help them move forward. It had taken a huge leap of faith on both their parts, but in the end, it had been worth it to find each other. No matter how scary it could be, it was worth it to step outside of their comfort zone and discover what lies beyond the fence.

 _ **So, did you survive my venture into history? Bravo, you! *laughs* I hope it was enjoyable.**_

 _ **And oh yes, if you're one of my returning readers and want to know what's happening with Imaginary Hellos, Lullabies in the Frost, Cupid's Latest Victim, or I Know You're In There, then rest assured that I'm still trying to write those stories. I adore them and don't intend to abandon them. I've just been having a difficult few months with life in general, and when that happens, I'm lucky if I can write these single chapter stories such as the one you just read. I'll try to get back to the others soon if I can. If anyone is willing to brainstorm with me on any of those stories, that might kickstart the creative juices enough for me to churn out a chapter or two. Otherwise, I'll get to them eventually. Sorry I'm so slow, but that's unfortunately the kind of writer I tend to be. *shrugs***_

 _ **Also, while I'm marking this story as complete for now, there's a slight chance that I might write more of it, especially since my husband would really like it if I did. I'm not entirely sure what else I should write though, so suggestions would help a great deal if you want to see more of this. Is there anything you'd like to see about Jack and Tannie interacting in the modern world? Or a question you had that I didn't answer adequately? Just let me know, and I'll see what I can do!**_

 _ **Thanks for reading this. Hope to see you all again soon on either this or another of my stories soon. Until then, take care!**_


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